Artificial Intelligence has been an unprecedented rollercoaster so far. The numbers of ChatGPT-users are enormous. Almost every company in the world is exploring the possibilities, and the leading players are busy experimenting. The technology is developing rapidly. The downside? The danger of digital sameness is lurking. Keep experimenting with new solutions.
It takes some getting used to: technology that is developing at such a rapid pace is something we have never experienced before. And as a bonus, this technology has a very user-friendly entry point; it’s actually quite remarkable that anyone can use AI without the involvement of a data scientist. A user can start experimenting right away.
The promises are there. Now it comes down to proper implementation. For a marketer, the mindset also changes because AI differs greatly from how we used IT in the past. Every calculation a computer did, was true. Now we have AI, which is trained by humans; can we take the AI-truth for granted? Sooner or later, we will fall into that trap. It is a misconception that AI answers provide the absolute truth. There will be a backlash from the AI hype, where people will realize that they still need to think for themselves.
Letting go and starting over
Most companies and employees are quickly adopting AI, but they do so from existing paradigms. They are now mainly wondering how they can accelerate their current reality. We will achieve true productivity when we can let go of that mindset and think differently about how we work, how we interact with customers, and how we organize the chain. That’s when the real acceleration happens.
The next step: how can you differentiate yourself thanks to AI? It mainly lies in the human factor: are your employees capable of using the technology smarter and better than the competition? After all, you both have access to the same technology – that’s also where the danger of digital sameness arises; everyone develops the same solutions, risking uniformity in the market. The AI revolution enables you to ask targeted questions. If you learn to ask the questions slightly differently and better, then you have an advantage. That means you need to adapt your natural language. And that’s difficult because effective use of AI requires us to change our communication, which we have been accustomed to for thousands of years.
Train your people in AI usage
Prompting, the technique used to ask AI systems the right questions, is therefore on the rise. Any marketer who wants to leverage AI for their work will have to learn these skills; it’s the gateway to distinctive use of AI. The downside? The range of technologies and programs is so extensive, so where do you start? Does a platform or tool meet your needs and requirements? Does it promise to simplify your work? Wrong choices can be made easily. And if you do make the right choice, make sure your people can use it; train them.
Companies are aware of this as well. We notice that more and more customers are open to design sprints and design thinking techniques. They use them in workshops to create value. All the communication and action points that result from this, can be directly applied to your daily projects. This saves a significant amount of time. A simple example: let Teams generate the meeting notes, which saves the effort of taking notes, a task that no one really enjoys.
That’s just one example. But keep experimenting. We currently have the feeling that AI developments are moving fast, but somewhere in the back of our minds, a little voice tells us that we haven’t even started yet.
